248 THE AMERICAN CHEMIST. 



Ill the eUjhtles we >see an enormous advance in clienncal work. One 

 newclieniieal periodical appeared, tlie Journal of Analytical Chemutry. 



Exclnsive of papers on the examination of foods and drugs in the 

 Keports of Boards of Health of three or four States, and of papers in 

 Reports of Agricultural Experiment Stations, the whole number pub- 

 lished was about 875, and inclusive of ^lapers excepted as above the 

 total would certainly not be less than 1)00, or more than three and a 

 half times as many as in the preceding decade. About 130 of these 

 papers related to general inorganic chemistry; 255 to general organic 

 chemistry; 283 to analytical chemistry ; over 50 to agricultural chemis- 

 try, 25 to technical chemistry; 30 to physiological chemistry; 33 to 

 analyses of minerals and mineral waters, and also 33 mostly very short 

 papers, to analyses of meteorites. The amount of solid work on these 

 several lines may be indicated in a measure by the length of the papers; 

 a paper of 1, 2, or even 3 pages would as a general thing represent in- 

 vestigations of minor importance, and comparatively little actual work, 

 although there may be some excei)tions to the rule. Comparing in this 

 respect the 3 leading lines of work, general inorganic chemistry, organic 

 chemistry, and analytical chemistry, about 00 per cent of the papers in 

 analytical chemistry are more than 3 pages long, while only 22 \)qv cent 

 of the papers in inorganic chemistry, and 19 per cent of those in organic 

 chemistry, exceed that limit. 



About 380 chemists contributed these papers, of whom, however, 

 258 appeared but once or twice in the whole decade. The most fre- 

 quent contributors were Clarke, Chittenden, Cibbs, H. B. Hill, Jackson, 

 Morse, Michael, Mabery, Mallet, Eemsen, E. F. Smith, and Wiley. 

 Several valuable contributions were made by others, who i)ublished 

 fewer papers, and in some cases very imi)ortant ones. 



The most notable feature in the work of this decade is the great 

 amount of work in organic chemistry, done especially under the lead 

 of Eemsen, Jackson, and ]\Iichae], most of which seemed to find its 

 natural way to the public through Remsen's owni journal. In these 

 times, when the Jierichtc, Liebig's Annalen, Jouriud fur Praliischc 

 Chcmic, Monat,shafir, and the Journal of the En(/li.sh Chemical Society 

 are giving us every year their 1,500 pages and. more of papers on 

 research in organic chemistry, there are at least some of us who are 

 not only not conversant' with this work, our lines of study being in 

 other directions, but are each year getting more and more hopelessly 

 out of touch with it. As one of those I would not presume to pass 

 judgment on the value of the researches in organic chenustry that are 

 now being made in this country; but we can be confident that it is not 

 such work as an American need be ashamed of. And I am sure we all 

 rejoice that through these investigators our own country is contributing 

 a large share of worthy research in this great branch of chemical 

 science. 



In inorganic chemistry, Dr. (libbs continued his work into this 



